Calumny
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When Greg makes friends with officer Spencer, who's new on the team, he soon has to learn he can't trust anybody. Is his new friend trustworthy?
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys!

Thank you so much for reading my stories! It means so much to me!

Here's a new one, I hope some of you were looking forward to it :)

Have fun reading!

Big love, pikapikatchu

* * *

><p>"It's gonna be a long night, huh? I brought you some coffee." An officer was standing in front of Greg, reaching out a coffee. A tall, handsome man with close-cropped black hair and brown eyes, he was new on the team.<p>

"Thanks," Greg replied a little surprised, grabbing the coffee cup. It was rather unusual that the officers brought the CSIs coffee. It was a nice move, though, Greg thought.

"Already have an idea of what happened here?" the officer asked interested.

"Well..." Greg stood up. He had been crouching down to collect some evidence. "Looks like they entered here." He pointed at the window in the kitchen. "I'm just not sure that's how they left, too. They struggled with the father in the living room and then went up to the daughters bedrooms..."

The officer nodded. Both daughters had been raped and murdered, it was a rather disturbing case. "What about the mother?"

"Deceased a few years ago. The father remarried, though. We're trying to..."

"Greg, can you help me here?" Nick asked, entering from the living room.

"Sure." Greg walked over to him, sipping from his coffee.

"Hey, where did you get that from?" Nick asked, pointing at the cup.

"Officer Spencer. Didn't he bring you one, too?"

Nick laughed a bit. "Oh, I see."

"What?"

"Nothing," Nick replied amused.

"Come on, what is it?"

"Well it's just the way he was looking at you when you walked up to me."

Greg turned around to take a look at the officer, but he was gone already. "How did he look at me?"

Nick laughed. "I'll tell you when you're old enough to understand, kiddo."

"...Oh stop it, he's not... is he?"

Nick rolled his eyes laughing. "Come on now, I need a hand."

* * *

><p>Greg was on his way back to the lab when right in the middle of one of those areas you don't want to be wandering alone, his car broke down. He tried to start the engine a few times to no avail. "Damn it, where did I put my cell phone?" Greg patted himself down, but he didn't have it in his pockets, where it usually was. He looked for it in the car, intending to call Nick and asking him to pick him up. It really wasn't the best place to let your car break down and losing your cell phone, he was getting a bit nervous. Not far from here was the bar Julian wanted to take Greg to. The bar where they got assaulted because of Julian. It was also near the alley where he got beat up a few years ago, it just didn't feel good to be there at night all by himself.<p>

While looking for his cell in the back seat, he heard a car horn. He startled and ducked.

"Hey!" Greg heard from outside.

Slowly, he looked out of the window.

He sighed in relief. It was a police car.

"That's not the best place to park your car," the officer said with a smile on his face.

Greg laughed a bit. "My car broke down and I can't find my cell phone." Looking a bit closer at the officer, he recognized him. It was officer Spencer.

"Do you have any evidence in there?"

Greg nodded. "Could I borrow your phone to call Nick?"

Officer Spencer got out of his car. "No need to bug him. I'll give you a ride."

"...Really?" Greg asked relieved. He wasn't too fond of the idea of waiting here for Nick to pick him up. "Thanks."

They loaded the evidence into Spencer's car and got in. Greg used Spencer's phone to call someone to tow the car. When he put down the phone, he said, "Okay, let's get out of here."

"You know, in a neighborhood like that, they'll steal the auto parts."

"You think so?" Greg asked, looking at him.

He nodded. "Maybe you should wait for the towing service, or else it'll be your fault when the car gets stolen."

Greg sighed. "You're probably right..." He opened the door. "Well, thanks for letting me use your phone."

Officer Spencer grabbed Greg's arm. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Huh? In my car."

"No, no." Spencer smiled. "You don't have to, I'll wait with you. It's too dangerous for you to be alone out here, anyways."

Greg looked surprise. "Don't you have to go back to work?"

Spencer called his boss with his cell phone to explain the situation. "There, problem solved. They know I'm with you." He gave Greg a cute smile.

At first, Greg thought Spencer was genuinely nice. But then, he remembered what Nick said. Judging from how he just smiled at him, Greg thought Nick could be right.

"Well, thank you..." Greg said sheepishly.

"It wouldn't be fun waiting here all by yourself, right?" the officer replied.

Greg nodded.

"It's gotten quite cold, right?" The officer said, turning on the car heater. "Just above 30 degrees, I think. I didn't know Vegas could be so cold."

"Where are you from?"

"Michigan."

"So I guess that means you're used to the cold, right?"

"Oh yeah, it's the heat I need getting used to!"

They talked until the tow service showed up. After the car was towed, Spencer drove Greg back to the lab.

"Thanks for the company, officer Spencer." Greg got out of the car.

"Barry. Call me Barry, Greg." He smiled at him. "If you need anything anytime else, just let me know!"

* * *

><p>"Hey, what took you so long?" Nick asked as Greg walked into the DNA lab.<p>

He sighed. "My car broke down, I waited for the towing service to come." Greg explained that he waited with officer Spencer. Nick couldn't help but grin. "Shut up," Greg said with a smile. "He's a cool guy."

"Sure." Nick kept grinning.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's a little treat, because it's Halloween! Hope you're all having a good night and creative costumes! Too bad we don't celebrate Halloween in Austria like they do in the US ;)

And thank you, pinazee, for your kind review :) I hope you'll enjoy the story!

* * *

><p>Two weeks later, Greg was doing solo work on a case officer Spencer was assigned to, as well. They made some small talk when they saw each other at the crime scene and Greg got to work. After about an hour, Spencer walked in. "Hey, are you alright?"<p>

Greg turned around a bit surprised. "Sure. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. It's just..." He had a rather concerned look on his face.

"What is it?"

"The victim committed suicide, right?"

"Looks like it, yeah."

"You know, I heard about Julian... Must be hard working a case like that."

The shock in Greg's face was obvious. It still was a weird feeling for him to hear that name. "That was a long time ago..." he replied rather nervous.

"I thought it was only a few months ago?"

"It's in the past," Greg said rather harsh before going back to work.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to... I'll just wait outside..." Spencer left the room.

_Great,_ Greg thought. Now he felt guilty.

* * *

><p>Officer Spencer seemed to be avoiding to look at Greg when he went out. Greg knew he needed to apologize. "Listen," he said as he walked up to him. "I'm sorry I lashed out on you. It's just... a very delicate subject and I don't like to talk about it."<p>

Spencer gave him a faint smile. "I'm sorry, too."

* * *

><p>Greg walked into the break room with a rather thoughtful look on his face, almost distraught. "That was weird..."<p>

Nick was sitting at the table, putting his newspaper aside. "What?"

"I think you're right."

" 'Bout what?"

Greg sat down opposite Nick. "I'm not sure, but I think Spencer just asked me out on a date."

Nick almost spat out the coffee he was just sipping from, bursting out in laughter.

Greg gave him an annoyed look. "You done?"

"Sorry..." Nick giggled. "What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"Well... He mentioned a friend's wedding and that he doesn't have a date yet."

"That's a bit conceited of you, to think that was an invitation," Nick grinned.

"No, it wasn't what he said, it was how he said it... The way he looked at me. His body language. It was just weird."

"So how did you react?"

"I didn't. Not really, I mean... How do you react to something like that? I just nodded and he kept on talking about this friend who's getting married and stuff. And then I bailed."

Nick laughed. "So he likes you. That's flattering, isn't it?"

"I don't know, I... The moment I realized you might be right, I..." Greg exhaled, looking down. "Forget it, it's stupid."

"It made you feel uncomfortable, huh?"

Greg looked up again. He was surprised Nick knew. "...Yeah."

"Don't be ashamed about it. After what happened with Julian I think it's a normal reaction. But don't forget, not everyone is a crazed stalker."

* * *

><p>Later that day, Greg had to interrogate a suspect. Doc Robbins found evidence to suggest that the suicide victim was actually murdered and Greg needed to rule out the victim's wife as a suspect, so he talked to her.<p>

He had no evidence to link her to the possible murder, yet, but took samples from her to either rule her out as a suspect or confirm her involvement.

Walking down the hallway, he bumped into Hodges. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" Greg asked with a smile.

"Oh, nothing... Just dropping these off." Hodges held up trace results.

"Sure... Hey Hodges, you got something brown on your nose..." Greg said teasing.

Hodges just gave him a look and walked away.

Before going back to the lab, he wanted to talk to Brass about his case. The blinds in his office were all down, so Greg knocked and walked in. Quickly and with both a shocked and rather disgusted, almost disbelieving look on his face, he came out again, closing the door behind him.

He just stood there in front of the door, still his hand at the door knob, looking shocked. Hodges walked by him. "What's wrong, did a cop ask you out again?" Hodges said mocking.

Greg gave him an annoyed look, but still, the shock was obvious on his face.

"Yeah, Nick told me. Hilarious. Don't blame him, I guess you just give off that vibe."

"Get lost, Hodges," Greg replied annoyed.

Hodges walked away with a grin on his face.

Greg didn't move an inch since he came out of that office. It was time to move now, he thought, since people were walking by him and giving him weird looks. But what was he supposed to do? Forget what he just saw and walk away? Actually not a bad idea, he thought. He took a few steps away from the door but was held back. A hand, coming out of the office, grabbed him and dragged him inside. The door closed behind him.

"Shhhh!" Officer Spencer said as he had his hand on Greg's arm, leading him to Brass' chair and pushing down in the chair.

"What the hell?" Greg asked irritated. He rolled a few inches back from the desk with the chair.

"Greg, please, keep your voice down!" Spencer said.

"Would you please tell me what you two were doing in here?"

"Well, I thought you saw what..."

Greg interrupted him. "No, I didn't mean... I mean, why are you in here?"

"Brass is gone for at least two hours, so I..."

"God dammit, I don't care why you're in his office. I mean, why the hell are you in here with this woman?"

"Well... She's hot and... No wait, I don't need another reason." He grinned.

"Is... Is this really happening right now?" Greg got off his seat and walked around the office nervously. "How could you do that?"

"Well, like I said, she's ho... Oh, I guess you don't get that."

Greg raised an eyebrow. What was that supposed to mean? "Who is she, anyway?"

"I'm Rebecca," she said with a sensual voice. "You didn't tell me we'd have company, Barry."

"Jesus!" Greg exclaimed rather helpless. He had no idea how he was supposed to handle a situation like that.

"Come on, Greg. Calm down! It's no big deal. Just take a deep breath and get back to the lab. This never happened. You'll be fine."

"What? No. I can't just forget about that. I think that image's stuck in my mind forever..."

"Greg, we're friends! You said I could come to you if I needed anything!"

"No, I didn't. You said that."

"Yeah right I did. It's the least to expect the same from you, isn't it?"

Greg rolled his eyes. He took a deep breath. "I'll leave this office now."

Spencer smiled. "You're a real friend, Greg."

"Next time, go somewhere else. Or lock up, for god's sake!"


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for the reviews! I really hope this story will do your expectations justice :)

* * *

><p>Greg entered the DNA lab to drop off the samples he collected from the victim's wife.<p>

"Is everything okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost," Robin, the DNA tech, said. Nick was at the lab, as well, nodding affirmative.

"I'm alright." He handed her the samples. He turned around and left the lab.

Nick followed him. "Has this anything to do with Hodges? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told him, but I thought it was a fun story!"

"No, it's okay. Your theory's wrong, anyways."

"Yeah? How do you know?"

"I just know..." Greg sighed exhausted. "Though I wish I didn't," he mumbled.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?"

Greg tilted his head back. "Can you keep something to yourself?"

"Sure."

Greg went on to explain what just happened. He didn't plan on telling anyone, but he just had to get it off his chest. He wasn't even sure why he had such a big problem with it, but he did.

"No way!" Nick said with a grin on his face, almost not believing what Greg just told him.

"No, it's true."

"And who was the girl?"

"He didn't say. Do you think I should tell Brass?"

"Nah, why? Sure, it's kind of weird he did it in Brass' office, but he didn't do anything illegal."

"Greg!" Officer Spencer was walking up to him.

"Oh, great," Greg exclaimed with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Can we talk in private for a moment?" When Spencer saw Nick's face, he knew that Greg had told him. "Oh, I see. He knows, huh?"

"What? ...Uh no, I... ah..."

"Yeah I do," Nick said with a grin on his face. Just like Hodges, he found the whole story hilarious.

"Right, fair enough. I hope he's the only one you're telling?"

Greg nodded embarrassed.

"Anyways, I just wanted to see if everything's cool between us."

"Yeah, sure, why shouldn't it?" Greg said rather awkward.

"I'm sorry you saw that. I guess you're not exactly used to seeing something like that." He patted him on the shoulder.

Greg had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

"So I was wondering... You remember the wedding I talked about?"

Greg looked a bit confused. "...Yes."

Nick just stood there with a big grin on his face, not saying a word.

"You know, it's next month, I was thinking you might come and..."

"Wait," Greg said, still confused. "I just saw you with a woman and now you're asking me to be your date for a wedding?"

Spencer looked surprised and then laughed. "No, I'm not gay, Greg."

"...Oh." Greg looked embarrassed. "Then... what about the wedding?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to be my brother's date!"

"...Come again?"

Nick tried very hard not to burst out in laughter.

"My brother, Chuck. He's new in town, too, and doesn't know anybody yet. I think you two would be a good match!"

"Excuse me..." Nick said laughing, walking a few steps away. He was still near enough to eavesdrop, though.

"So you're asking me to be your brother's date...?"

"Mhm."

"...I'm not gay, either, Barry."

He smiled. "But what about you and Julian?"

"What about us?"

"I was told you two were in a relationship."

"What? Who told you that?"

"Some colleagues at the station. It's not true?"

"...No!" Greg thought for a second. "That actually explains a lot..." He raised an eyebrow. Some of the officers made weird comments to Greg when Julian died. He didn't make the connection of them thinking they were a couple up until now. "Barry, I'm not gay and I never went out with Julian. So... Sorry, no, I won't go out with your brother, either."

Spencer looked a bit wary. "Alright. Sorry I got that mixed up." He walked away, leaving Greg standing there, being more confused than before.

Nick walked over to him, still laughing. "Guess I was wrong. Too bad."


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so the last chapter didn't have too much story progress in it, but this one does! Hope you like it! :)

* * *

><p>For the last week, Greg avoided Barry as much as he could. It was just an awkward feeling talking to him after what's happened. He wasn't even sure what was worse, seeing him with that woman or him asking him to be his brother's date for a wedding!<p>

"Body's right this way," an officer said to Greg and Catherine, leading them to a dead woman lying in her bedroom. Catherine's cell phone rang, she told Greg to go ahead while she stayed behind, answering her phone.

Greg walked up to the body to take a look. Normally he'd start processing, but he just stood there for a minute, staring at the dead woman.

"Hey," Spencer said from behind.

Greg turned around with an angry face. "What the hell are you still doing here?"

"What? I was assigned to this case. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that this is the woman I caught you with last week!"

"Sssshhhht!" Spencer said annoyed. "I know! Would you please keep your voice down?"

"Well then you should also know that you're not allowed to work that case!" Greg pulled out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm calling Brass, he needs to know about this."

Spencer grabbed the phone out of Greg's hands, grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to a more private corner. "You can't do this!"

"I have to!"

"They'll think I have something to do with it, I can't let that happen!" Spencer said desperately.

"Listen, you can either tell Brass yourself or let me do it. I'd rather have you do it yourself, it won't make you look as bad. Just tell him you know her and slept with her, he doesn't have to know that it happened in his office. But you're not doing anyone a favor by trying to cover anything up. It'll only make you look guilty when they find out."

Catherine walked up to them. Spencer still had his grip around Greg's wrist. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, ma'am. Everything's alright, isn't it?" Spencer looked at Greg.

Greg gave Spencer a look to encourage him to speak up, but he didn't. "Actually, no."

* * *

><p>Greg was waiting in front of Brass' office for officer Spencer to come out. He had been in there for over an hour and Greg worried about him. He wasn't a bad person, Greg was sure, and didn't have anything to do with the death of this woman. But it sure didn't look too good for him right now.<p>

Finally, the door opened. Greg hopped off his seat, facing Spencer. "How'd it go?"

Spencer briefly looked at Greg, then walked by him, bumping him with the shoulder as he passed him.

"Barry, wait."

He stopped walking but didn't turn around. "I'm suspended, thanks to you." He walked away.

* * *

><p>Greg was discussing the case with Catherine in the layout room. The victim's name wasn't Rebecca as she said when Greg met her. It was Rita Woodbine. That was pretty much all they knew about her right now.<p>

Robin came in with a pensive look on her face. "Guys?"

They turned around to her.

"I got some of the DNA results..."

"Anything useful?" Catherine asked.

"Maybe... Well, the epithalia under her fingernails... They belong to Officer Spencer." She looked at Greg. "The condom you found at the scene... His DNA is on it as well."

"Anything else?" Greg asked without showing any emotion both in his face and voice.

She shook her head.

"Thank you, Robin," Catherine said with a faint smile. Robin left. "This does not look good for him."

"No..." Greg replied gloomy. "But it's still not enough to prove he murdered her. Maybe he didn't."

Catherine nodded. "Maybe. But... If we find something that will prove he did it, will you be able to deal with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're only human, Greg. We can't be objective on all our cases. Sometimes they're too close to home for us to be impartial about it. The important thing is to realize it and back down, let someone else do it, you know?"

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

* * *

><p>As the days went by, they gathered more and more evidence to suggest that officer Spencer might've been involved in Rita Woodbine's death. They had to interrogate him.<p>

Greg and Spencer sat face to face in the interrogation room. Brass was with them, too.

"Does he have to be here?" Spencer asked annoyed. He was still angry with Greg for ratting him out. At least from his point of view, that's what Greg did.

"Why don't you tell us about your relationship with Rita Woodbine, Barry?" Brass asked.

"Well, for starters, I only know her by the name Rebecca... We met at a bar about three weeks ago. Since then we saw each other a few times."

"Have you ever been in her apartment?" Greg asked, trying to conceal the discomfort in his face.

"Sure."

"When was the last time?"

"The morning on the day she was found..."

Brass and Greg shared a look.

"This doesn't mean anything! I didn't kill her!"

"We, uh... found your DNA under her fingernails. Can you explain that?" Greg pulled out the DNA results and put them on the table.

Spencer laughed a bit. "Did you ever have sex? It can get rough, you know."

"How rough exactly did it get?" Brass put autopsy pictures on the table. "I'd say a little too rough for her, right?"

Spencer gulped. He knew he was in trouble but had no idea how to get out of it. "I didn't do it, I swear. She was just a fling, why should I kill her?"

"Doc Robbins estimated her time of death to be around 8 p.m. We know you didn't work that time, do you have an alibi?" Greg asked. He was hoping, as well as Brass, that Spencer had an airtight alibi.

"Since I had to work the nightshift today, I was at home, asleep. But that still doesn't mean anything!"

Greg looked a bit disappointed. That was not what he was hoping for. "Listen, Barry... We want to believe you, but right now the only suspect we have is you. You gotta help us a bit here. What do you know about her? Like, did she have a boyfriend?"

Brass looked at Greg. He didn't like the way he tried to handle this.

Spencer sighed. "She mentioned a boyfriend, but I don't know his name. I didn't meet her to talk with her, you know."

Brass cleared his throat. "Okay, the only reason you're not under arrest yet is that we didn't find any trace from you on the scarf she was strangled with. We have enough evidence to raise suspicion, but right now it all doesn't prove you've been with her when she died." Brass gave Greg a look to let him know he was supposed to talk about some evidence they found at the scene.

Greg nodded slightly and pulled out some toxicology results. "We found several drugs both at her apartment and in her blood." Greg hesitated for a second and then put a cup on the table. "We're... going to perform a drug test on you."

Spencer looked a bit unbelieving at Greg and Brass. "You think I did drugs with her?"

"You've been in her apartment, we have to assume you anticipated in doing drugs, too."

"That's ridiculous!" Spencer exclaimed. "I'm not doing drugs and never have!"

"Then this test shouldn't be a problem." Greg tried to keep a straight face, but the disappointment and fear was still slightly visible. He feared that Spencer actually had something to do with her death.

Spencer rolled his eyes. "I don't believe this."

* * *

><p>As Greg was walking through the hallway, he spotted Henry. Walking up to him, Russell stopped Henry and talked to him. When Greg approached him, he turned around and walked away. "Henry, wait!" Greg said, "Do you have my tox results?"<p>

"Sorry, Greg, can't talk right now!" He hurried away nervously.

"What was that about?" Greg asked Russell confused.

Russell held up the tox results. "We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it took me so long to upload, I'll try to get the next one up quicker :)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>They walked into the layout room.<p>

"That doesn't sound too good. Were drugs in his system?" Greg asked rather anxious.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." Russell put the results on the table.

Greg looked a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"You care about him too much."

"...Did you talk to Catherine?"

"And Brass, and they both told me they don't think you're able to detach yourself from this case."

"Why would they think that?" He glanced at the tox results sitting on the desk, dying to take a look at it.

"Brass said you hesitated to ask some unpleasant questions in the interrogation room earlier."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Just because I don't ask questions as aggressively as Brass does doesn't mean I'm not being objective."

"Listen, Greg, I think I know you well enough to know you'd never do anything to harm a case on purpose. It's not even the case I worry about. You're doing a great job, whether or not you're rooting for a suspect."

"Then what is this all about?" Greg asked confused, even a bit annoyed.

"I worry about you. About what kind of impact this case will have on you if Spencer turns out to be guilty," Russell replied with a serious look on his face. "Will you really be able to handle it when you find that evidence needed to confirm Spencer's involvement? You already look like you feel guilty that Spencer is a suspect. How will you feel when you're the one to convict him of murder?"

Greg sighed. "I do feel guilty. But only because I kept my mouth shut when I saw him with that woman in the first place. Maybe if I would've told Brass she would still be alive..."

"So you think he did it?"

Greg didn't answer that question. He didn't have to, anyway, the look on his face did it for him.

Russell gave Greg the tox results. "It's your decision." He walked out.

* * *

><p>Greg was sitting in the break room, thinking about what Russell just said. He knew Russell was right, he wasn't 100% objective. He wanted a certain outcome in this case and would be very disappointed if he got another. He wasn't doing himself a favor by staying on the case.<p>

"Hey, how're you doing?" Nick walked in and sat down next to Greg.

He sighed. "I hate this."

"Are you gonna give up the case?"

Greg looked surprised at Nick. "How do you know about that?"

"Russell asked Sara and me what we think about it."

"Great." Greg rolled his eyes. "What did you say?"

"Well..." Nick got up to fix himself a coffee. "I told him that you're a responsible CSI and won't do anything to harm the case."

Greg nodded. "You're right. That's why I can't work this case anymore."

* * *

><p>The next day, Greg tried real hard not to get any updates on the case. He didn't want to hear anything about it, or else he'd only worry. He tried to distract himself with work. Him and Nick were assigned to a new case. A dead body was found in the desert.<p>

"Right this way," an officer said, giving Greg a weird look. As they were walking up the scene he sensed several cops staring at him. He looked at them rather uncomfortable, he wasn't sure what was going on.

"What's up with that?" Greg whispered to Nick.

"What?"

"They're all looking at me."

Nick looked around. "Don't be paranoid, why should they?"

"I don't know... Maybe because of Spencer? They probably think it's my fault."

"I think YOU think it's your fault. Nobody's looking at you. Relax."

Together with David, they processed the body.

"You see these blood drops?" Greg asked Nick as he was taking pics. "I'll see where the trail ends..." he walked away to follow the blood drops. Walking several minutes and concentrating on the blood drops, he didn't notice he was being followed. The trail ended with tire marks leading towards the road, fifteen minutes away from where the body was found. When Greg turned around to go back to tell Nick about his findings, he bumped into one of the two cops that followed him. He startled. "Jesus!" he exclaimed. "You scared me alright!" He smiled relieved. "The blood drops end here, they probably drove out here to dump the body." When the officers didn't react at all, but instead looked at him in a creepy way, Greg gave him a dazed look and decided to just walk back.

"Sanders," one of them said when he went pass him.

Greg turned around to them. "...Yeah?"

"Mind if we give you some advice?" the officer said with his back turned at him. The other one was looking at Greg.

Greg looked confused. "...Sure."

"It's never smart to bite the hand that feeds you."

"...What?" Greg asked a bit unsettled.

The officer who had his back turned to Greg turned around and walked up to him real close. It made Greg feel threatened. "We put our lives in danger to have your backs sometimes. I just thought it was a good idea to remind you of this..."

Greg just stood there stunned as the cops made their way back to the scene. At first he felt intimidated, but then anger was crawling up. "Officer Langley!" He walked over to him. "Are you trying to threaten me?"

The officer laughed humorlessly. "I'd never do that. You'd rat me out to Brass instantly, right? That's your thing. Just be careful out there, we can't always be there to dodge a bullet for you..." They walked away, leaving Greg just standing there with a baffled look on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for the review! :) Isn't it weird we want something bad happening to our favorite characters sometimes? But I like that, too... ;)

* * *

><p>"Is everything alright? You've been very quiet for a while now..." Nick said as he was sitting in the passenger seat while Greg was driving. They were headed back to the lab.<p>

"I'm just a little tired."

"You didn't look tired when we headed out to the scene."

"So? Since when did you become so nosy?" He couldn't help but smile when he said that.

"Probably the day you became a goddamn mystery," Nick replied jokingly. "If you're just tired, that's okay. If something happened and you feel like you can't talk to me about it, you're nuts."

"Thanks, dad," Greg smiled at Nick. "But I'm fine."

* * *

><p>Of course he wasn't. He just didn't want to burden Nick with his problems any more than he already did. He also feared he wouldn't believe him. The following days, similar incidences occurred. Many officers let him feel they felt like he turned on Spencer, and the cops stuck together. They had each others back and Greg had to learn this the hard way. It almost felt like some kind of hazing. At first, he almost thought he deserved it. He still felt guilty about Spencer. Sometimes for a second he would think the only way he would stop feeling guilty would be if Spencer would turn out to be the murderer. But of course that's not the outcome Greg wanted from that case.<p>

As he was in the locker room, Russell walked up to him. "You have a minute?"

"Sure," he replied. He opened his locker. A bra was hanging in there. Some officers placed it in there as some kind of mean-spirited practical joke. He quickly closed it again, hoping Russell didn't see it. He didn't.

"These reports need to get to the police station and I can't find Sara anywhere. Would you do me a favor and..."

Greg interrupted him. "...The police station?" He was dreading the thought of going there, especially after this finding in his locker.

Russell nodded. "I need Brass to sign these. You're a big help, thanks!" He loaded the files up on Greg and left.

* * *

><p><em>Just<em>_ go__ in__ there, __walk__ straight __up__ to __Brass, __don't __look__ at __anybody __and __get __out __of__ there __as__ quick __as __possible! _That was his plan. He was feeling stupid about it, but he had no idea how else to deal with this. Avoidance was his only choice, he thought, again.

He made it in without attracting too much attention and knocked at Brass' office before walking in. He wasn't in there. _Great,_he thought and decided to call him. He wouldn't be here in another 20 minutes, so Greg put the files on the desk and told Brass he'd pick them up later. Walking out of the office, he almost bumped into an officer who was standing in the doorway. "Excuse me..." Greg said sheepishly, trying to walk pass him.

"What were you doing in there?" the officer asked.

"Nothing!" he said almost as if he was being caught doing something wrong. But then he realized, he didn't do anything wrong. Not now, not when he told Brass what he saw. He didn't owe anyone an apology or an explanation. He was fed up with this. "...Now would you please step out of the way?" he asked, trying to sound as confident as possible.

The officer grinned and stepped aside. Greg could feel his eyes as he was walking away. He could also hear people whispering as he was walking through the lobby. He wasn't even sure if he was becoming paranoid or if they were really talking about him. _Just __ignore __it_, he thought. He was about to make his way out of the lobby when an officer thrusted his shoulder at Greg's, pretending it was an accident, apologizing with a big mean grin on his face. He stopped. Everyone was quiet now and looked at him. There were about twelve officers in the lobby. Greg took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It didn't help. "Okay, that's enough! I know you all think I back-stabbed officer Spencer! I know you think it's my fault he's a murder suspect, but it's not! I understand that you're angry with me, but that doesn't give anyone of you the right to treat me the way you do! Stop with the bullying, the threats, practical jokes and anything like that!" Everyone stood there, staring at him. Greg was feeling embarrassed now. This outburst clearly wasn't planned. But now, he thought, he had to make the best of it. "...And stop with the gay rumors about me and Julian! We never were in a relationship! We were just colleagues!" He stormed off.

* * *

><p>"Dammit!" Greg was swearing in the evidence room loud enough for Nick to hear it outside. He walked in to check on him.<p>

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just... I cut my hand with this frickin' scissors!" He threw the scissors against the wall as he turned his back to Nick.

Nick winced a bit. "Whoa, what the hell, man?"

Greg exhaled annoyed. "I'm sorry, I just..."

Nick walked over to check on Greg's wound. "Wow, that looks bad. Might need some stitches."

"I'm fine!" He got up annoyed and grabbed a tissue, pressing it against the wound.

"I'm afraid that won't do it," Nick said rather sarcastically as he saw blood dripping on the floor.

"How about you take care of your own goddamn business?"

Nick rolled his eyes. He didn't even take Greg serious when he was cranky like that. "Come here." He grabbed some tissues, too, and pressed it on the wound as well. "What's going on with you?"

He sighed. "I almost contaminated the evidence with my own blood!"

"Almost. No need to be mad about it, isn't it? So what's wrong?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "It also hurts like hell."

Nick gave him a look. He knew this wasn't the only reason Greg was acting that way. "Come on now, let's get you to the hospital before you bleed all over the lab."

* * *

><p>"How'd that happen, anyways?" Nick asked as he was standing there with his arms crossed, watching the doctor stitching Greg's hand up.<p>

"Things like that happen, Nick," he replied annoyed.

"You're not the clumsy kind, I could probably count the times something like this has happened to you on one hand."

"Disappointed I'm not Superman?" Greg rolled his eyes again.

"You're also not the moody, grumpy kind." Nick laughed a bit. It was kind of funny seeing Greg like that. When he was grumpy he was a bit like a child.

"Well I decided to start being the grumpy kind when people wouldn't stop asking me stupid questions."

Nick laughed again. "Touché."

As Nick kept on talking, two officers walked by the room Greg was in. They looked through the window, grinned and pointed at him when they saw him being stitched up.

"...Don't you think? ...Greg?" Nick asked. He was talking for a minute and Greg kept on staring behind him. "What is it?" He turned around, but the officers were already gone.

"Okay, as good as new," the doctor said and walked out.

Nick closed the door. "Okay, come on. Tell me. What's bugging you?"

"Don't worry about it." Greg put his jacket on.

"But I already do. Maybe I can help you."

"You can't hel..." Greg's phone rang. "Sanders. No, he wasn't there so... Yeah, I'll pick'em up. Okay... okay, sure. Yeah. Bye." Greg sighed. "I need to pick up some files for Russell..." He got off his seat with a look on his face as if he was about to walk into a cage full of hungry lions. That's how it felt to him.

"You're not going anywhere before you tell me what the hell's going on with you." Nick received a rather desperate look as Greg sighed and just walked out. Nick followed. "Is this about Spencer? Did they find new evidence or something?"

"No it's not that..."

"But it has something to do with it?"

Greg was slowly caving in. "Well, it's..." They walked by three officers. Two of them were looking through the window earlier. Greg gulped.

"That doesn't look too good, hope everything's alright," one of them said mockingly.

Nick didn't sense the sarcasm behind it, he just kept on walking. "It's what?"

Greg didn't say anything until they were in the car, but the second the car doors closed, he said quite angrily, "Didn't you just hear that?"

"Hear what?" Nick asked confused as he started the engine.

" 'That doesn't look too good,' " he repeated, imitating the officer.

"So?"

"Jesus, Nick, for a guy who wants to know everything that's going on you sure don't get subtle undertones."

"Subtle undertones? I... What are you talking about?"

Again, Greg rolled his eyes. "They're bullying me."

"What? Who?" Nick said a bit amused.

"Pretty much the whole police department. They're blaming me for Spencer."

"Greg..." Nick still refused to believe him. "You're being too sensitive about this. Nobody's blaming you but yourself. This isn't high school. They're grown ups, they don't bully."

"Oh yeah? How would you take it if one of them told you to watch out because they can't have your back anytime there's trouble at a scene?"

Nick looked at Greg. "Seriously? One of them said that to you?"

Greg nodded as he looked down.

"I'm sorry, Greg... I... Who's taking part in this?"

"That doesn't matter. They're just trying to make me feel bad, but their threats mean nothing."

"Tell me their names, I want to talk to them."

"No way. I'll just wait until this all is over. They'll get off my back once Spencer is cleared."

"Maybe. But... What if he's not?"

Greg didn't answer. "...Just promise me you won't talk to anyone about this."


	7. Chapter 7

Hope you're all doing okay! No new ep of CSI tonight, so I figured you need a new chapter now more than ever, right? :)

* * *

><p>Two days later, Nick and Greg were talking to the victim's husband and brother. They visited them at home with the intention to search the house for evidence. The husband was very cooperative, the brother not so much. Nick was downstairs, processing the living room and kitchen, while Greg was upstairs taking care of the bedroom. The husband was downstairs with Nick, the brother was watching every step Greg was taking.<p>

"What are you doing?" the brother kept asking.

"I'm looking for hairs, fibers, anything to help us..." Greg replied while taking a good look at the bed.

The brother had his arms crossed and was standing in the doorway. He looked a bit nervous, but the victim's loved ones often did.

"What is it? Did you find something?"

Greg looked up. He was annoyed, but also knew that some people liked to stay with the CSIs while they did their jobs, it just didn't make it any easier for him. He picked up a hair with a pair of tweezers. It was blond. Both the brother and the husband, as well as the victim, had dark hair. He bagged it.

"Why are you taking this with you? It's just a hair."

"But it's blond. Neither of you have blond hair, so it might help us to find out what happened." He kept on processing the bed. He was preparing the UV-light to check the bed for any signs of sexual activity.

"What... Wait. Is this what they use on TV to look for semen and stuff? What do you need that for?"

Greg sighed. As much as he understood the brother's curiosity, as much it annoyed him. "I'll be done in a few minutes, why don't you go downstairs while I finish here?" He walked over to him, grabbing the door knob. "I'll let you know about my findings."

The brother stepped into the room, Greg had to step back. "You think she had an affair, right? She's a decent person, she loves her husband! She'd never do that to him!"

"Sir, please, just let me do my job. I'm not suggesting anything, but it's procedure to process the bedroom." He tried to calm him down. "Please, step out."

"I'm not going anywhere and you're not going to make it out as if my sister was a slut!"

"No one's saying that, Mr. Griffin. We just need to..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the brother grabbed a night lamp and threw it against the wall. "Whoever did this is still out there and you're here wasting our time!" he yelled aggressively.

"Sir, I assure you, we're doing our best. This is necessary." Greg stayed calm. He was still trying to calm the brother down. He knew he was just angry over the loss of his sister, not at him. He didn't think he was a threat to him. "Now please... would you step out?" Greg grabbed the UV-lamp, hoping the brother would let him do his job already. The brother just stood there. Greg walked over to the light switch.

"No!" the brother said. He hastily walked over to Greg and took the UV-lamp out of his hands, pushing him against the wall. He had his grip on Greg's collar, pressing him against the wall. "Who the hell do you think you guys are to come into my sisters home and stick your noses into their business, huh?"

Greg tried to get him off by pushing him away, but he failed. The brother was quite a big guy and he was a lot stronger than Greg was.

"Let go of him." Officer Langley, the officer who was giving his 'advice' to Greg a few days earlier at the crime scene, was now in the room with his gun drawn and aimed it at the brother. "...Now!"

The brother hesitated for a moment, but then let go of Greg. He started crying. "You're ruining his life... He loves her..."

Another cop walked in and walked away with the brother.

"You alright?" officer Langley asked Greg rather emotionless.

He nodded. "...Thank you..." he said sheepishly.

Langley gave him a look and turned around.

* * *

><p>"At least it's good to know they'll still do their job, right?" Nick said, trying to see the positive in the situation. They were on their way back to the lab.<p>

Greg shrugged. "Yeah, but the look on his face... Made me almost think he regretted intervening. They resent me. I need to do something to turn this around. Maybe I should talk to Spencer..."

"What? No! Stay away from him, Greg."

"They still don't have any proof he has anything to do with the murder, why can't I just talk to him?"

"Just... Don't. You'll regret it afterwards, trust me."

* * *

><p>The bullying didn't exactly stop, but it seemed to be getting less for the next few days. Maybe his rant at the station helped, he thought. Maybe they were just getting tired of it, too. He didn't really care why it improved, he was just glad it did. He was walking to his car in the parking lot when three officers approached him. One of them was Langley. "Hey, Sanders!"<p>

He turned around with a worried look on his face. _What __now,_ he thought.

"How's your hand doing?" one of them asked with a grin on his face.

"What do you want?" Greg asked rather annoyed. He was long over the phase of trying to be nice to them, hoping they'd be nice to him in return.

"Come with us," they said, pointing at a car.

"...Excuse me?"

"Get in there, we're making a little road trip."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "What, are you trying to kidnap me now? No, thanks."

"Okay, fair enough. We might've taken the whole blame game a bit too far with you, but we're cops after all. We're not going to hurt you, you can trust us."

"Trust you?" He asked sarcastically as he turned around, trying to get to his car.

One of them grabbed his arm. "Spencer asked us to drive you to him."

"...And he couldn't just ask me to meet him instead?"

"He was afraid you wouldn't want to see him."

"Well he was right about that!" He tried to walk away again, but the officer's grip got stronger.

"Come on."


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the reviews and story alerts etc. I really appreciate it :) Hope you like this chapter!

* * *

><p>Since Spencer's plea it wasn't possible for Greg to distance himself from the case anymore, so he decided to find out how far Catherine and Russell had come along. Russell advised him to stay away from the case, but Greg was stubborn enough to ignore that advice. He got updated on the case and received rather good news. They found DNA on the murder weapon that didn't belong to Spencer.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm surprised you're even allowed to talk to Spencer about the case," Nick said from the driver's seat.<p>

"I'm not going to tell him anything confidential, but he called and wants to see me. I'm just relieved he will be cleared soon, I want to talk to him. Support him, you know?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "He's not cleared yet. This doesn't mean he wasn't involved in any way."

When they reached Spencer's home, they noticed the door being open.

"That's weird..." Greg opened the door. "Barry?"

Nick had his hand on his gun. Something didn't feel right. "Greg, wait, let me go first."

When they entered the living room, they sure didn't expect to see this.

Both stood there shocked for a moment, but then quickly ran up to Spencer. He was hanging from the ceiling, a rope around his neck. Nick grabbed his legs to pull him up a bit. "Quick, get the rope off!"

* * *

><p>Russell walked up to Greg with a cup of coffee, handing it to him.<p>

"Thanks," Greg said in a mellow voice.

Russell sat down next to him. They were waiting for news about Spencer in the hospital.

"Why would he do that? I thought you found foreign DNA on the scarf she was murdered with..."

"We did. But that doesn't mean anything, does it? We can't prove his innocence with this."

Greg turned his head to Russell. "So you think he did it?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. He tried to commit suicide. The question is, if he's innocent, why did he do that?"

"I don't think he was depressed... But I never paid any attention to it, maybe I just didn't see the signs... I don't think I even knew him well enough to notice any signs..."

"It's not your fault."

"But he clearly wanted me to find him... He called me an hour before I found him, the door was open... He wanted to be found. Maybe he didn't want to die, he..."

"Greg." Russell stopped him. "You did find him. You saved his life. Once he's able to talk we can ask questions."

Greg nodded as he sighed.

The doctor came out of Spencer's room. "He's asleep right now, but he'll be fine. I found this note in his pockets." He handed it to Russell.

"Thank you." It was a suicide note. Russell read it out loud. "I can't live with the guilt anymore. I did it. I killed her. Please forgive me."

The surprise was clearly visible in Greg's eyes.

Before Russell was able to comfort Greg, Catherine walked up to them. "I just talked to Sara, she processed Spencer's place. Right now, everything seems to point to suicide."

Russell stood up, him and Catherine walked a few steps away from Greg. "The doctor just found a suicide note in Spencer's pocket." Russell handed it to her.

Taking a brief look at the note, she said, "I know this handwriting... I've seen it somewhere." She opened the case files she carried with her. "Here." She handed Russell a copy of a letter they found in Rita Woodbine's apartment.

"What's this?"

"A love letter, signed with 'C'. I didn't connect it to the case because this letter was sent a year ago, but it's the same handwriting, don't you think?"

"It looks at least similar enough to check it out. We need to process this." They walked away.

"Wait," Greg said really confused. "What's going on?" He wasn't able to listen to what they just discussed.

"You just stay here and wait for Spencer to wake up. When he does, don't talk to him, call me." Russell and Catherine left.

* * *

><p>"The only question is... Is Spencer this 'C' or not?" Nick asked. He wasn't working on the case before, but now he did. He wanted to.<p>

"Well, a year ago he was still living in Michigan. It is possible that he came to Vegas, met Rita and sent her letters, but I doubt it." Catherine was still looking at the letter. The lab confirmed that whoever wrote the letter also wrote the suicide note. "But we don't have a handwriting from him to compare it to, yet."

"Did you find any prints on the letter?"

"A partial on the back. Probably Rita's, but not enough to confirm it. The rest were smudges, nothing to work with."

"Did you find any guys with a name starting with the letter 'C' in her address book?"

"There's just a Charles, but that's her uncle. I doubt he wrote the letter, let alone killed her. He lives in a nursing home in Seattle," Russell explained.

"So we might have a new suspect, but don't know anything about him," Nick said rather frustrated.

"Well, personally I think it's safe to say Spencer didn't try to commit suicide. There wasn't a single fingerprint on the suicide note, I doubt he wore gloves when he wrote it."

"A murderer would, though..."

* * *

><p>"Hey. How's he doing?" Sara walked up to Greg, he was still waiting in front of Spencer's room.<p>

"He's not awake yet, but the doctor said he'll be fine."

"And you?"

Greg shrugged. "I don't know, I think I still didn't process it. I just can't believe it."

"That's understandable." She gently touched his shoulder. "Can I get you something?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks."

"You look tired. Why don't you go home and get some sleep? He's in good hands."

Greg declined. "I want to wait here."

"Alright... I'm gonna take some pictures and collect evidence, I'll be back in a moment." She walked in.

Greg was waiting nervously for her to come back. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but he did.

When Sara came back 15 minutes later, she had some news. She sat down next to Greg. "I probably shouldn't tell you before I tell Russell, but... Take a look." She showed him a picture on the camera.

"What's this? ...Is this...?"

"Looks like a stun gun mark, right?"


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the cliffhanger at the end of the chapter, but you won't have to wait too long for another one :) Hope you like it!

* * *

><p>Almost a week later, Spencer was released from the hospital. He had no idea who attacked him. He was struck down from behind and didn't remember what happened afterwards. The CSIs were still on the hunt for Rita's murderer and Spencer's attacker, but right now had no lead. Russell didn't tell anyone not working on the case but he didn't rule out the possibility that Spencer staged the attack to clear himself. Because he was not working the case, Greg was completely unaware of this theory.<p>

"Hey, Sanders." Greg was approached by an officer in the parking lot again. It was officer Carney, the officer displaying aggressive behavior towards Greg when they were at Spencer's. Ever since Spencer was attacked, the bullying stopped. Greg still received some resentful looks, but they didn't do or say anything anymore. Officer Carney approaching him now was surprising for Greg. Most officers were avoiding him since the attack as much as they could.

"...Yeah?" he said, sounding rather exhausted. He feared the bullying would start again.

"Spencer wants to see you."

"...Is he already up for company?" Greg thought about it for a second. "Why didn't he call me?"

"He asked me to drive you, come on."

He rolled his eyes. "Didn't they teach you any manners in cop school?" he said mocking.

"...Now, will you?" officer Carney said, trying hard not to sound too aggressively.

"Tell him I'll come by later." Greg turned around to walk to his car. Carney stopped him by grabbing his arm. "He needs to see you now."

* * *

><p>"I finally had a breakthrough on the foreign DNA that was found on the scarf." Robin, the DNA tech, walked into the break room where Russell, Nick and Catherine were sitting. "Since it was so little evidence to work with, it took me a lot more time than usual. I almost thought it wouldn't be enough for a profile, but after days of hard work, I found a match!" she said rather excited. "It doesn't make any sense at first, but I found a match with an old murder case."<p>

"...Really?" Catherine asked interested.

She nodded. "But the DNA belongs to the victim. He was murdered five years ago." She handed the report to Russell.

"Taylor Danner, 17, shot in a gang-related shooting..." Russell read out loud. "How did his DNA wind up in our case? That's impossible. Did you double-check...?"

She interrupted him. "I checked it four times. No doubt it's a match. Question is, how?"

"A twin, maybe?" Nick asked confused.

"I checked his birth records, no twin. So how is it possible that a dead man leaves his DNA at a recent crime scene?"

"The way you're asking this questions makes me think you have the answer already." Nick smiled.

"I might have! See, it's impossible he left his DNA there, so I got to thinking. How's it possible we get a match after all?"

"Don't make this too thrilling, Robin," Catherine said.

"Sorry." She smiled. "Well, somebody must've switched the profiles!"

"...What?"

"Well, I thought this all didn't add up so I took a look at the profiles. They don't match."

"I'm confused," Nick said. He really was, as much as the others. "You just said they did."

"Well, Taylor Danner has two DNA profiles."

"That's impossible!"

"It is if someone changed the data for the DNA we found to make it look like his profile. See, this one's the real Taylor Danner's profile. Look at the first three marker. And this is also Danner's profile, matching the DNA found in Woodbine's murder case." She handed them two sheets with DNA profiles on it. They obviously didn't match.

"So you have an idea who did this?"

"It could be anybody who has access to the lab."

"Wait a minute," Russell chimed in. "You're saying one of us did this?"

She sighed. "There's not many other possibilities. I'm sorry."

"...Would a cop be able to do this?" Russell asked with Spencer in mind.

"If he had somebody's access code, yes. Only the lab rats and CSI's have those."

"Can we find out who logged in?"

"Archie's working on it. We'll be able to find out who logged into the system around the time the profile had been changed. It was a few hours after you found foreign DNA on the scarf she was murdered with. Follow me."

* * *

><p>They all walked into the DNA lab, where Archie was sitting at the computer. He had a concerned look on his face.<p>

"Did you find out who logged in?"

He nodded. "The profile was changed around 5p.m, give or take an hour. Robin said it was on the day you found DNA on the murder weapon?"

She nodded. "It was so little evidence, it took me days to make out a profile."

"Well..." He sighed. "Everybody who logged in had reason to do so. Everybody but one."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not surprised Robin logged in. She's a DNA tech, she needs the access to the computer all the time. There's just one person who could've had reason to log in, but it's rather unlikely that..." His cell phone got a message.

"What are you talking about, man?" Nick asked, still confused.

Archie took a look on his cell phone. It was important information he was requesting earlier. He sighed again. "He didn't even work at that time."

"...Who?"

Archie gave them a worried look. "Greg."


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry, this chapter's not much longer than the last one, but it's an important chapter! Let me know what you think! I hope it's not too confusing ;)

* * *

><p>"So, how is Barry doing?" Greg asked, trying to break the awkward silence while sitting in officer Carney's car. He didn't do it to make the uncomfortable feeling go away for Carney, but for himself. "Is he getting better already?"<p>

Carney didn't say anything.

Greg's cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and took a look at the caller ID. It was Nick.

"Don't answer that," Carney said.

"What? Why not? It's just Nick, I'll..."

Carney grabbed the phone.

"Hey, what the hell?"

"I don't like it when people talk on the phone while I'm driving."

* * *

><p>"He's not picking up!" Nick said rather helpless. He wanted to talk to Greg, give him a chance to explain why he logged into the DNA database. There had to be an explanation!<p>

"Calm down, Nicky, let's not get ahead of the evidence. Greg used to be a DNA tech, he still does that work sometimes when there's no DNA tech available. Maybe he..." Catherine tried to make sense of this, but Robin interrupted her.

"He didn't work at that day until 8p.m. Why would he be here two, three hours before he had to come to work and work in the DNA lab?"

"I'm sure there's an explanation for that!" Nick said aggressively.

Robin backed off a bit. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"Spencer," Nick finally said, "He asked Greg to keep him updated on the case!"

"When was that?" Catherine asked interested.

"A few days before Robin was able to make a DNA profile from the trace found on the murder weapon, I think."

"You think that's when he asked Greg to..."

"No!" Nick exclaimed angrily. "Greg would never do that!"

* * *

><p>"Where is he?" Greg asked, wondering why Carney was opening the door with a key instead of Spencer letting them in. Making his way further into the house, Greg spotted Spencer, lying on the floor next to the couch. "Barry!" He ran up to him. Spencer was bleeding all over his face. He was unresponsive. "Call an ambulance!"<p>

Carney was just standing there with a grin on his face. "In a few minutes, he won't need an ambulance."

* * *

><p>Nick tried to call Greg again and again. He still didn't pick up. "Maybe he's on his way to Spencer again!" He walked out to the parking lot with Russell. They found Greg's car parked there.<p>

Russell looked confused. "Is he here somewhere?"

"He said he wanted to go home, his shift ended an hour ago."

"Then what is his car doing here then?"

* * *

><p>"This will work out great. It's a good thing you CSIs are stupid enough to trust anybody in a uniform!" Carney laughed devilish. He was aiming a gun at Greg.<p>

Greg had his hands raised. "...What are you doing?" He looked around. There was lots of evidence suggesting a terrible fight.

"This all worked out way better than I thought. If you hadn't caught Spencer with the girl, I'm not sure I would've gotten away with it at all!"

"...You killed her."

"Bitch had no problem screwing around with everybody!" he replied aggressively.

"You knew about her and Spencer?"

"Everybody knew! He bragged with it anytime he could!"

"So what's your plan now? They already figured out Spencer didn't kill Rita!"

"Please, I know that they have plenty of theories about what went down. Some think Spencer staged the attack to get his head out of the noose... Pun intended." He grinned.

"...Then what am I doing here?" Greg asked with fear in his voice.

"You're the one taking the blame now." He walked up closer to Greg, with his gun still drawn.

Greg winced and took a few steps backwards. "Please... Don't..."

"Shut up!" He pressed the gun against Greg's cheek and placed himself behind him. "Move and I'll shoot you." He put another gun in Greg's hand and fired three times. Anytime the gun was fired, Greg flinched. His hand was shaking.

Carney ripped off Greg's bandage from the wound he got with the scissors a few days ago. "Good..." he said as he walked a few steps away from Greg. Feel free to try using the gun, it's empty."

"They'll never believe I had anything to do with this, they'll get you." He had tears in his eyes.

"Oh yeah? They'll find enough evidence, trust me." Carney laughed. Before he was able to point his gun at Greg again, the door slammed open. Several SWAT-officers stormed in. "Drop the guns!" they yelled at both Carney and Greg.

"Thank god you're here!" Carney said, sounding really relieved. "He shot at me! He attacked Spencer, I think he's dead..."

"Drop the guns! Both of you!" they yelled again.

Brass, Nick and Russell walked in.

Greg sighed relieved and put the gun down.

Carney looked surprised. He didn't expect him to drop the gun. "...Arrest him, he's dangerous!" He put his gun down as well.

Some of the SWAT-team members hurried over to Greg. "On the ground!" They pushed him to the ground, patted him down and put handcuffs on him.

"What... Hey!" Nick said, walking over to them. "What the hell are you doing?"

Russell held him back. "Let them do their job."

"But..."

"...What's going on?" Greg asked helpless. He didn't know about the CSI's findings, he didn't understand why he was the one under arrest. They walked him outside and sat him into a police car. Nick followed them.

"Nick, I... what's going on?"

"Just stay calm, it'll be all cleared up. Don't tell them anything until a lawyer is with you! It'll be alright, I promise!" He gave him a fake smile. Nick was at least as worried as Greg, he knew the evidence they found didn't make Greg look good.

When the car drove away, Nick noticed Carney's car. He walked over and took a look from outside. "Russell!"

"Yeah?" He walked up to Nick.

He pointed inside the car. "You see that? That's Greg's cell phone."


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys!

Thank you all SO MUCH for reading, reviewing putting an alert on the story and/or me as an author! You can't imagine how much it means to me to know some people actually read and like my stories :) As always, I'm open for criticism, so don't shy back on telling me what you didn't like about a story!

I already writing on a new story, I hope to get the first chapter up in the next days. It will be a little more Nick-heavy, but don't worry, that doesn't mean I'll forget about our beloved Greggo! :)

So here's the last chapter of this story. Let's see how this whole situation will work out for Greg! Enjoy!

Big love,

pikapikatchu

* * *

><p>Greg was sitting in the interrogation room for almost two hours, alone. Finally, the door opened.<p>

"Nick!" he exclaimed joyful.

"...Hey. How are you holding up?"

He shrugged. "How's Spencer? Will he be alright?"

"I don't know, they're running some tests, but he's unconscious."

Greg sighed. "And Carney? Did they arrest him?"

"They did, but he claims you killed Rita Woodbine and attacked Spencer."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Internal Affairs seems to believe him."

"...What? Why?"

Nick leaned forward. "Greg, why did you log into the DNA database on the day Robin was able to get a DNA profile out of the trace found on the murder weapon?"

Greg looked confused. "I didn't."

"Yes you did, Archie checked it. You didn't even work at that time."

"Nick, I swear, I didn't. I didn't log into that database for weeks. The last time was..." Greg thought about it for a moment. "When I had to fill in for Robin, last month."

"Then how do you explain that you did log in that day?"

"...I can't." Then, Greg had an idea. "Wait. I keep my access code and stuff like that in my locker..."

"...And?" Nick asked rather disappointed. He was hoping Greg had anything useful to say, but that didn't sound too useful.

Greg leaned back and sighed. "They were in my locker."

"Who?"

"I don't know, some cops. Probably Carney. They put a bra in there as part of their bullying."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I was embarrassed. I didn't even want to tell you about the bullying, I didn't feel the need to go into every little detail."

"Well if you did... this could be helpful now!" Nick said rather stressed.

"...Why are you being so angry? ...You don't believe me, right?"

"Of course I do! I know you better than anyone else in this lab. You're not a violent person and you're definetly not a murderer! But they don't know you well enough to know that!"

"Do they have any other evidence against me?"

Nick nodded. "They found your DNA in Spencer's bedroom."

Greg looked puzzled. "I've never been in there."

"They found a bandage with your blood stains on it."

"...How... Wait." Greg showed Nick his hand. "The wound's already healed! ...Now I get it."

"Get what?"

"Carney pulled my bandage off and put it in his pocket. He wanted me to be found with the bandage off. He wanted to make it look like I dropped the bandage today. But it didn't bleed in days!"

Nick had a hopeful smile on his face. "I gotta go! This is good news! Hang in there, I'm sure they'll release you in no time!" He patted Greg on the shoulder as he hurried away.

* * *

><p>The interrogation was already in progress. Brass and Russell were talking to Carney. They listened to his whole story, about how he surprised Greg as he was about to kill Spencer, that Greg shot at him three times and then the SWAT-team came to save him. It all sounded very believing, he was a good liar.<p>

Russell nodded. "Nice story, but... Why did you have Greg's cell phone in your car?"

"...I didn't."

Brass laughed. "That's a lazy excuse. Why don't you come up with something imaginative as the story you just told?"

"...You're friends with him, you probably planted it there. I demand some objective CSIs to work this case!"

Nick knocked on the door and walked in. "Officer Carney, do you have any idea what this is?" Nick showed him the blood-stained bandage that was found in Spencer's bedroom.

He nodded. "Sanders had an injured hand. This must be his."

"We found this in Spencer's bedroom, do you have any idea how it got there?"

Russell and Brass looked at Nick a bit confused.

"You saw the house, it was a mess. I'm sure they had a fight, Spencer probably pulled it off of Sander's hand."

Nick grinned. "You seem to have an answer to every question. Maybe you can tell me what this was doing in your pocket?" Nick showed him the bandage Carney had pulled off of Greg's hand."

Carney didn't say anything at first, but then said, "Again you're planting evidence. Nice. I want a lawyer."

"That's a good idea. But we didn't plant anything. The CSIs who collected this are not from our team. When they find Greg's DNA on this, you'll have a lot of explaining to do." Nick walked out.

* * *

><p>In the next few hours, a doctor confirmed that Greg's wound had been closed for several days now and didn't bleed in the last few hours or days. They were also able to confirm that the blood found on the bandage was a few days old. They eventually found out how Carney got his hands on the bandage, but he never admitted it. Almost two weeks ago at a crime scene, Greg's hand started to bleed. He redressed the wound with a new bandage and threw the old one away. Carney must've taken it out of the trash can when nobody was looking. They also found several finger prints on and inside Greg's locker that belonged to Carney as well as Greg's DNA on the bandage they found in Carney's pocket.<p>

Also, Archie was able to pull surveillance footage from the police parking lot. Carney and Greg were on the tapes and Carney was obviously talking Greg into getting into his car. The fact that he grabbed Greg's arm while talking him into getting in sure didn't help Carney.

This, as well as several witnesses affirming that Carney was walking around the lab at the time the DNA profile was edited was enough evidence to prove that Carney was the one editing it. Spencer woke up two days later, confirming that Greg didn't attack him. The fact that officer Carney didn't fire any bullets from his gun was enough to raise suspicion about his story to begin with. Greg may have had gunshot residue on his hands, but Carney did, too, despite the fact that he claimed he didn't fire a gun.

This meant, both Spencer and Greg had been cleared. They ran Carney's DNA against the one they found on the murder weapon and got a match. Life was getting back to normal.

"Greg," Spencer was walking up to Greg. A week has passed since Spencer was released from hospital.

"Hey. You're working already? ...Judging from your clothes, I guess the answer's no." He gave him a smile.

"Yeah, I need another week to rest. I just came here to see you."

"Why didn't you call me? I could've come by your place later. Especially when you're not feeling good."

"No." Spencer shook his head as he smiled. "I don't feel too comfortable at home right now, I'm sure you feel the same way. I just came here to apologize... and thank you."

"You don't have to," Greg replied sheepishly.

"I do. I wasn't being fair to you when I was a suspect... You had reason to doubt my credibility. And you've been a good friend when I needed you, even though I acted like a jerk."

"It's alright. How about we just forget about this and start all over?"

"Sounds like a great idea!"

Greg laughed shyly as Spencer hugged him. He didn't think they were good enough friends to hug, but he appreciated the gesture. He patted Spencer on the back as he let go of him. "Well, see you around, right?" He smiled.

"Sure. Hey, how about we watch a game together sometime next week?"

"Sounds good."

"Awesome! I'll call you!" Spencer patted Greg on the shoulder and left.

* * *

><p>Only two hours later, Nick and Greg were processing some evidence in the layout room.<p>

"So... I saw you talking to Spencer earlier. How is he doing?" Nick asked nosy.

"Good. He wants to come back to work in a week or so."

"So... What were you two talking about?" Now his nosiness was obvious.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Nothing. He just apologized and wants us to be friends."

"So... Everything's good between you two and you'll stay friends?"

"I don't know..." Greg sighed with a thoughtful smile on his face. "He's a nice guy, but I doubt we'll be friends. We'll be friendly to each other when we meet at work, but I don't think we'll hang out in our free time. He said he'll call, but you know how these things work. Everyone will be busy and forget about it."

Nick nodded. "You don't have a problem with that?"

He shook his head. "So much has happened, I'm not even sure we could be friends. I'm not even sure he wants that. He probably thinks he owes me or something, but I'm sure he won't call anytime soon." At the same time, his cell rang. He got it out of his pocket and looked at the screen.

"It's him, isn't it?" Nick asked with a grin.

Greg didn't say anything, just looked at Nick. His look said everything there was to say.

Nick laughed. "Sometimes I think you're not as good at reading people as you think you are."

Greg thought about nagging on Nick's remark, but then thought everything that's happened lately. "That actually sums up the last few weeks, yeah...," he replied rather thoughtful, but with a smile on his face before he answered the phone.

* * *

><p>Ende.<p> 


End file.
